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September 15, 1999
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i d e a s
o f
i m p a c t
Suspended Students Get Help Instead of Ticket to Trouble
’
_______—----------- -—
---------1
PROBLEM
cally short supply.
The Alliance Project, funded by
the federal Office of Special Educa
tion Programs, is assisting more than
1,000 special education faculty mem
bers from nearly 400 institutions in
the United States, Guam and Puerto
Rico in writing grant applications for
“ I Have a Dream Foundation - Oregon" is an educational enhancement program where they
"adopt" an entire grade level from an elementary school and establish a long-term relationship
with them until they graduate from high school. Together with the parents, their role i to support
Dreamers by serving as a guide, friend, tutor, big brother, big sister, or counselor. Dreamer,
Brian G. (right) with his Class 4 Sponsor, Vicki Zidell (left).
_________________
schoolwork.
aced with a serious behavioral
Sandra Koss, AESPP’s executive
problem or breach of disci
director and a certified alcohol and
pline, a school principal may
substance
abuse counselor, said the
feel the only appropriate response
is
program
started
when the group re­
suspension, even if the suspended stu­
alized
many
of
the
inmates it serves
dent regards the punishment as un­
in
its
pre-
and
post
release
programs
scheduled vacation or an opportunity
first had problems in middle school.
to get into further trouble.
She said her organization wanted to
A preferable alternative would
F
by an outside professional
to expose them to future
options, Koss said, or watch
a video about compassion
or black heroes, then write
an essay about it. But what
makes the AESPP program
different from other suspen­
sion programs is its use of
the “recovery m odel” to
help students make impor­
tant changes. This model,
landed in jail.
vise this.
Koss explained, is tradition­
S
ch
o
o
l
a
d
m
in
istra
to
rs
from
These days, however, Ed Hotaling,
around the district send an average of ally used in substance abuse
middle school principal of School 21
counseling and known to
seven to nine students each school
in Albany, N.Y. has another option.
many in the form of 12-step
day to the AESPP building. Each
He is sending students he would have
programs. It focuses on ac­
student starts his or her suspension
suspended to the Alternative to School
cepting personal responsi­
with an individual counseling session
Suspension Program offered by
bility and the “three A ’s of
to help identify needs and determine
Albany’s Adolescent Employability
change: admitting there’s a
Skills Plus Program (AESPP), a pri­ causes of the suspension. In the morn­
problem, accepting the con­
ing, the students focus on academics,
vate, not-for-profit group that runs
sequences and taking action
while
the
afternoon
is
dedicated
to
various programs to prevent incar­
to be different the next
counseling
and
growth
exercises,
ceration or reduce recidivism. Here,
time,” Koss said.
which
follow
AESPP’s
copyrighted
suspended students receive supervi­
Karen Pirozzi
curriculum.
Students
may
hear
a
talk
sion, counseling and help with their
write a letter, an innovative pro­
gram - peer tutoring - is beginning
to gain ground in schools around
the country.
In peer tutoring, students teach
each other, with an older student
_ _ : a. ,
more federal funding.
“It’s important not just for minor
ity students to see minority faculty,
but majority students as well because
there’s so many stereotypes on both
sides of the fence,” explains Dr. J oVita
Wells of The Alliance Project. “It’s
good for all of us, but particularly
good for minority students to see mi­
nority faculty and have some com­
monality with the person before them.”
Learning from teachers with simi­
lar backgrounds benefits the children
in several ways,” says Deborah Smith,
principal investigator of the Alliance
Project. “Take, for example, a special-
needs youngster whose dominant lan
guage is not English. Teachers unfa
miliar with a student’s culture, lan­
guage and background can’t offer “an­
chored instruction,” in which the
teacher relates what is being taught in
class to some experience or activity
the student already understands or
possesses,” Smith said.
Carol Davis
LO CA L H O T SPOT
address some o f the burgeoning is­
sues for these students before they
Let Students Teach Students
At a tim e when the education
system is under attack, with parents
com plaining that classes are too
large, and employers turning down
high school graduates who can’t
a a s
Studies show that minority chil­
dren with special educational needs
usually make the most progress when
their class teacher is of a similar ethnic
background, but special education
teachers from minorities are in criti­
In 1997-98, there
were 840 Portland
public high school
dropouts. The two
largest m inority
groups that with­
drew from school
and did not re-en-
roll were Hispanic
Americans and Na­
tive Americans.
be in-school suspension. But many
schools lack the resources to super­
.a
Recruit More Minority
Special-Ed Teachers
usually tutoring a younger one. Be
cause the approach has proved ef­
fective in cutting dropout rates and
raising achievem ent levels, some ex­
perts see peer tutoring as the most
cost effective, practical way to solve
the crisis in A m erica’s schools.
Educators point out that by using
students instead of adults as tutors,
the programs reach twice as many
students and provide the peer sup-
port that is so important to
children.
Studies indicate that
young students like teach­
ing other, younger stu­
dents, according to advo­
cates of peer tutoring.
Keeping young people
in school Is one of the goals
o f peer tutoring.
Joy Darlington
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